Poll: Relationship and cultural attitudes shift in 25 years of dot com life

Twenty-five years after the first Internet domain name was registered, one in 10 Americans under 50 would like to turn themselves into “Chuck” by implanting the Internet into their brains, if that was possible.

Similarly, one-third of Americans would download memories from their brains if they could, and the percentage increases to more than half for 18- to 29-year-olds.

Also, one in four have been caught cheating, or know of someone who has, because of an online social network.

Meanwhile, 37 percent of Americans would rather spend time on the Internet than with co-workers, while 49 percent would chose the Internet over their in-laws.

Those are some of the results of a poll released Monday by VeriSign Inc., the Mountain View Internet security vendor that administers the .com registry. VeriSign has been celebrating the first ever Internet domain, Symbolics.com, registered March 15, 1985.

VeriSign made news last week when it agreed to sell its Web site authentication-services unit to Symantec Corp. for $1.28 billion in cash.

VeriSign is hosting a “25 Years of .com Gala” on Wednesday at San Francisco City Hall, honoring Internet innovators

And on May 26 in San Francisco City Hall. Comedian Dana Carvey is the host for the event, which is not open to the public.

The poll, conducted by Zogby International, measured the Internet’s impact on relationships, culture and general tech knowledge. Zogby surveyed 3,233 people from April 30 to May 3 and from May 14 to May 17.

Here are a few more results:

– If they could jump in a time machine, 41 percent of Americans said they would pick creating Google first over finding a new spouse or betting on the known outcome of a sporting event.

– 80 percent said they didn’t feel pressured to reveal more personal information on Facebook or other social networks.

– Thirty-four percent have been a victim or know a victim of an online scam.

– One in four believe the Web can replace a significant other “for a period of time.” The percentage rises to 30 percent for those who are widowed, divorced or separated.

– Nearly four of five wouldn’t plant a tracking chip in their child. But 37 percent have used the Internet to track someone’s location. And 21 percent have created a fake Internet persona, presumably to avoid being tracked.

– 50 percent get more information from the Internet than their doctor, while 56 percent trust online media sources compared to traditional media.

– The Internet has caused 27 percent to donate more money to charities.

– One in 10 Americans said they knew an Internet millionaire.

Also, VeriSign created a heat map, shown below, that displays the distribution of Internet domains by their physical addresses throughout the United States. The hotter concentrations are shown in red and the hottest spots glow yellow.

VeriSign Inc.

This heat map shows the concentration of Internet domain physical addresses throughout the U.S.